Michelle Obama arrives in Doha

03 Nov 2015 - 1:00

US First Lady Michelle Obama (right) being received at the Hamad International Airport yesterday.

By Fazeena Saleem

DOHA: US First Lady Michelle Obama arrived in Qatar yesterday making her first official visit to the country.
She reached at the Hamad International Airport at 6.45pm in a special plane. Ambassador Ibrahim Yousif Abdullah Fakhro, Director of Protocol, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Dana Smith, US ambassador to Qatar received Michelle on red carpet at the airport.
During her three-day visit, Michelle will participate in officials talks, visit the Al Udeid Air Base and address the 2015 World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE).
She will today participate in high level official discussions and also visit US military service members stationed at Al Udeid Air Base as part of the Joining Forces initiative. Tomorrow at WISE 2015, Michelle will be addressing an audience of education leaders from the region and around the world about global girls’ education and the ‘Let Girls Learn’ initiative.
She will deliver her remarks at the opening plenary of the summit, which will be inaugurated by H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser.
‘Let Girls Learn’ initiative was formed by Michelle together with the ‘Peace Corps Volunteers’ in March as a powerful collaboration to expand access to education for adolescent girls around the world. This programme aims to address that challenge by empowering local leaders to put lasting solutions in place.
In the first year of the Let Girls Learn collaboration, Peace Corps will target 11 countries where it can make a real difference, such as Albania, Cambodia, Georgia, Ghana, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Togo, and Uganda.
Michelle’s visit to Doha is part of ‘Let Girls Learn,’ and she will also visit Amman, Jordan, this week, according to a statement issued by the White House on October 28.
“As part of the Let Girls Learn initiative, the First Lady will make stops in Doha and Amman; she will also visit US military service members stationed at Al Udeid Air Base as part of the Joining Forces initiative. “The First Lady (Michelle) will also participate in official meetings in Doha and Amman,” the statement added.
Michelle and Dr Jill Biden launched ‘Joining Forces,’ a nationwide initiative in the US, calling Americans to gather around service members, veterans, and their families and support them through wellness, education and employment opportunities.